Courtesy: Sri.K.Muralidharan Iyengar
Dear All,
Greetings and Namaste. As Skanda Shashti falls on 29-Oct-2014 (Wed) culminating on the annual 6-day worship of Lord Skanda, I am pleased to share a hymn on Lord Shanmukha by Sringeri Jagadguru Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Swamin. This hymn was apparently composed by him when he visited the famous Subrahmanya Temple at Kundrakkudi (near Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu) in 1925.
Over the last few years, I have shared many hymns and puranic perspectives on Lord Kartikeya. We have also seen that Varaha Puranam does not differentiate between Lord Vishnu and Lord Kartikeya as it prescribes Lord Vishnu to be worshipped in the form of Shanmukha in Kanti Vrata. In Thiruppugazh, Sri Arunagirinathar prays to Lord Shanmukha almost interchangeable with Vishnu (marukone - nephew). All wrangling over many forms of the one and only Brahman is nothing to do with devotion - because true devotion unifies whereas pandithya(erudition) without true devotion is actually ignorance that impels splitting hair on frivolous things with no Return on Investment (ROI) of the precious time.
Sri Chandrashekara Bharati Swamin was a great yogi and Tapasvi and one requires certain basic qualifications even to utter His name - since I don't have any such qualifications, I just offer my humblest pranams at His Lotus Feet. His Life and work towards Sanatana Dharma is beyond comprehension by ordinary mortals. A few remarkable instances from his life.
1. Once a Mantra Upasaka asked him how he can know whether he has achieved Mantra Siddhi. Sri Swamigal jokingly told him that it is easy. He asked for rice paddy to be spread on the floor for both himself and the Upasaka and asked him to start doing the mantra japa sitting on the same along with him. If the paddy is converted to puffed rice during the Japa, then it means the Mantra Siddhi has been achieved. Both started performing Mantra Japa and within a few minutes, all the paddy under Swamiji was thrown out as puffed rice while no such thing happened for the Upasaka. The upasaka understood the silliness of his question and prostrated before him.
2. An atheist was forced to have a darshan of Him during his visit to Madurai in 1920s' by his close friend. While waiting to have darshan, he made so much ruckus and fun of Swamiji and Sannyasis. Swamji occasionally turned towards his side and looked at him for a second and our atheist friend did not know what happened to him. He fell to the ground on his own, prostrated and started crying uncontrollably for a long time. Such was the power of His sight. The atheist later became a scholar and ardent devotee and even wrote an Ashtottaram on the master.
3. During the same visit to South, he was camping near Devakottai, which did not see rain for many years. As it was difficult to bring water from far away places for all Mutt formalities, the Srikaryam decided to change the location and informed Sri Guru. Sri Guru did not agree that people who have invited him will be disappointed. He immediately asked for the Purohit to start chanting of Virata Parva in Mahabharat as per prescribed procedure and he went out to the verandah and started doing some Japa while walking back and forth. It was a very hot afternoon and within half-hour dark clouds appeared from nowhere and it rained heavily (the person who experienced this personally has written that it was as if thousands of people were pouring water from large vessels - not just rain drops). After 3 hours, he asked Srikaryam whether the rain was enough who said yes. He asked the Purohit to light Karpura (Arti) and miraculously the rain stopped just immediately after Deeparadhana. When the writer had darshan again the following day and wanted to raise the subject as a miracle of Swamiji, He was unassuming - He attributed everything to Sage Vysa and the construct of Virata Parva with Bijaksharas.
The mere thought such great souls shall elevate us!
May We Pray To Lord Shanmukha, who is also called GYana-Skanda, during Skanda Shashti.
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